


Today's Special: Torture

by Summerwolf



Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Tony Stark, Gen, Good Peter, Human Experimentation, Hurt Peter Parker, Implied/Referenced Torture, Left for Dead, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Torture, Whumptober 2020, i did it!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27314791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerwolf/pseuds/Summerwolf
Summary: Whumptober day 31 - Experiment, Whipped, Left For Dead.---"That's weird," he muttered quietly, reaching out to touch the broken foliage. It was like something had crashed through the undergrowth. It didn't look big enough - or crazy enough - to be a deer, and yet was too big for most of the other animals who lived in the area. The path was straight, not an animal desperately running in fear, more like…Shaking the thoughts away Tony started following the path of destruction. He had the feeling that most logical people would ignore it and preferably walk in the exact opposite direction… but Tony hadn't lived in the forest for this long without feeling a sense of responsibility for it, and if something was wrong he needed to know so that he could help."Shit." The swear escaped his mouth without any conscious thought, his blood freezing in his veins when he saw the crumpled child lying in front of him.This was who had caused the damage in the undergrowth, this was who had been running through the woods.Why was there a child in the woods?
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946926
Comments: 2
Kudos: 104
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Today's Special: Torture

Tony walked slowly through the woods which he called home, smiling at the flowers which had just started pushing through the downtrodden earth, and pausing for every deer that crosses his path. Tony hadn't loved there all his life, had grown up in a city surrounded by noise and movement and  _ people. _

But then everything had gone wrong, and it had taken a pretty big loss for him to take a step back, look around at where he was in life.

He was head of a company, lived in a penthouse, surrounded on all sides by everything. He was living the American dream, and yet when he took around at where he was, he realised it wasn't actually the life he wanted to live.

And so he hadn't. He'd packed up everything he owned, passed the company on, bought a cabin, and made the most of the life he'd been given.

Some people had warned him he would regret it, but he'd been living in the woods for a couple of years and hadn't regretted a single thing yet.

"That's weird," he muttered quietly, reaching out to touch the broken foliage. It was like something had crashed through the undergrowth. It didn't look big enough - or crazy enough - to be a deer, and yet was too big for most of the other animals who lived in the area. The path was straight, not an animal desperately running in fear, more like…

Shaking the thoughts away Tony started following the path of destruction. He had the feeling that most logical people would ignore it and preferably walk in the exact opposite direction… but Tony hadn't lived in the forest for this long without feeling a sense of responsibility for it, and if something was wrong he needed to know so that he could help.

"Shit." The swear escaped his mouth without any conscious thought, his blood freezing in his veins when he saw the crumpled  **_child_ ** lying in front of him.

This was who had caused the damage in the undergrowth, this was who had been running through the woods.

Why was there a child in the woods?

"Hello? Can you hear me?" he asked, reaching down to gently shake the boy's shoulders. He had no idea what he could possibly do, but he couldn't just walk away.

The sinking feeling in his stomach turned to nausea when he actually focused on the child in front of him, noticing the deathly pale pallor of his skin and the strikingly bright whip lashes that covered most of his back. For one heart stopping moment, Tony thought the child was actually dead. He thought he’d been too late, and one more life was lost.

The child’s chest rose and fell minutely. It was enough to be worrying, and Tony knew he would need a lot of help, but he was alive. The life was still there, the kid was still fighting, and no matter what happened Tony knew he had to help.

He carefully lifted the child up, cradling him in his arms and turning back around to head back to his cabin. He knew the child was unconscious, and couldn't feel any of his injuries, but that didn’t stop Tony for feeling guilty as his arms pressed against the ripped up back. He had to do it to get the child to safety, but he still fe;t bad.

\---

His name was Peter. Two weeks later and that was all that Tony knew about the child he’d found in the forest. Well… That was all the child had told him. All Peter had told him. He’d figured out on his own a lot more.

Like the fact that Peter had been abused before he turned up in the forest.

Whipped.

Hurt.

Left for dead if everything else Tony had figured out added up.

Peter had recovered tonnes since Tony had first found him, the whip marks were already starting to fade, he’d gained colour back to his cheeks and already started putting weight back on with the amount Tony was letting him eat.

But he refused to talk.

He told Tony his name, but would avoid saying anything else, other than occasionally asking for things like food and water. He adamantly refused to leave the cabin, taking away any of Tony’s hope for getting him any kind of professional help.

Of any kind.

“Morning Kid,” Tony smiled, having to remind himself not to ruffle Peter’s hair - last time he’d done that Peter hadn’t stopped shaking for the rest of the day - on his way past to grab himself some coffee from the pot. “What’re you feeling for breakfast today?”

"I need to talk to you," Peter said instead of answering Tony's question. Tony could tell, from tone alone, that this was going to be an important conversation, and even though he'd been waiting for this for weeks, he suddenly started doubting if he was really ready for this to happen.

"Alright," Tony replied with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, sitting down across the table to Peter, "I'm listening."

"How much do you already know about how I ended up here?"

Tony stared at the table for a long moment, tracing the grain of the wood with his eyes. "I know you were in a very bad place," he said, his voice low. He didn't know why, but it felt like one of those things which just shouldn't be said at full volume. "I know that you were covered in whip marks, and close to death when I found you, but not much else."

Peter breathed shakily, and for a moment Tony thought he was going to just walk away, or close back in on himself. Tony wouldn't blame him, talking about this must be more than difficult, and the fact Peter was even trying said a lot about him.

"You're not questioning how I'm still alive? How I healed that quickly?"

"No," Tony huffed out a quiet humourless laugh, "I was just thankful you made it."

"I was kidnapped when I was seven years old," Peter said, his voice detached like he was talking about a book, and not something that had happened to him. "I don't know what they were trying to do with us, but I wasn't the only one."

Tony nodded, none of it made sense but he knew better than to interrupt. Peter's eyes were shining with tears and it was clear that if he didn't get it all out now, then he never would.

"They were - experimenting on us - I don't know why, I'm not even sure if they managed. I ended up with faster healing - that's how I'm still alive now - but clearly I failed at something. They whipped me - trying to test something - and then when I failed, they dumped me in the forest to die."

"And then I found you," Tony finished when Peter trailed off. Both of them just sat there for a long moment, matching looks of horror on their faces.

"And then you found me," Peter confirmed, breaking the silence that had been filling the room.

"What now?" Tony asked, knowing that he needed to help Peter, but not knowing how he would want to be helped.

"I need to find them. I need to stop them from hurting anyone like they hurt me." Peter's voice was steady, but tears were dripping down his cheeks and even though Tony would never dream of telling him he couldn't do something, he needed to make sure he actually wanted to do it.

"Are you sure? You could move on, your past doesn't have to continue into your future."

"I'm sure. I need to do this. For myself as well as everyone else who was there."

Tony stood up, refilling his mug as he put some bread into the toaster. "I guess we better start making a plan then," he said, already thinking through his old contacts and wondering which of them would be able to help.

"We?"

"You didn't think I'd let you go this alone did you kid?" Tony asked, leaning into the counters and staring Peter down. "You're not alone anymore."

Peter nodded, something that could only be hope and acceptance shining in his eyes. "Thank you Tony."

**Author's Note:**

> That's it kids!! Whumptober is over!! Time for me to go and sleep for a year!!  
> Not really... Hopefully I'll be back soon, once I've recovered from all this writing.  
> Hope you enjoyed!!!  
> Have an amazing November!!!


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